But the Seahawks, with the ball at the 1-yard line, instead passed the ball, the Patriots intercepted and won the game. Just like that.

In a matter of seconds, Malcolm Butler, a Patriots rookie, will never be forgotten in the history of the franchise no matter what happens with the rest of his career. He intercepted the ball. He saved the win.

Pete Carroll will never be forgotten, either. The Seahawks coach was so close to winning his second title in a row with Seattle. And on second down, the Seahawks passed despite having one of best runners in the game.

Suddenly pushed to the back burner, too, is The Catch by Jermaine Kearse. He was on the ground, the ball hit a whole bunch of body parts and somehow never hit the ground. For the Patriots, it was David Tyree pinning the ball to his helmet all over again.

The New England Patriots face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

But Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell bailed them out. Seattle went with a pass.

"There's really nobody to blame but me," Carroll told his team after the game. "I don't want them to think anything other than that. A very, very hard lesson. I hate to learn the hard way, but there's no other way to look at it right now."

Of course, it's being called the worst call in Super Bowl history, and a trip around the football world yields much.

Of the more than 500 comments on seattletimes.com:

"What do Pete Carroll and Forrest Gump have in common? It's simple: stupid is as stupid does."

How about the Wilson pass and the attempted catch? Russell Wilson is taking some heat, so is Ricardo Lockette. Replays show that, despite it being a bang-bang play, Wilson might have thrown a fraction of a second too late and the ball definitely was high. And Bevall, despite making the call, did say Lockette could have been stronger to the ball. Certainly Malcolm Butler was strong to the ball. Still, there is not getting around the call.

Chris Gaspar, Boston Globe: The only thing Brady deflated in Super Bowl XLIX was the hopes of the Seahawks, who had humbled Brady's quarterback contemporary, Peyton Manning, last year in the Super Bowl. The Brady-Manning debate goes into the dustbin of history.

Larry Stone, Seattle Times:Doug Baldwin would call it "an unfortunate series of events," but history will judge it much more harshly. The question of why the Seahawks decided to pass when Marshawn Lynch — the game's best at fighting for the end zone — was no doubt drooling for the ball, will never be answered to the satisfaction of Seahawks fans.

Jerry Brewer, Seattle Times: The Seahawks returned to the Super Bowl this season by staying close to their identity. They ran the ball better than any team in the league. They played punishing defense. They won close games by thriving in tense moments. They needed to do that one more time to become the first back-to-back NFL champion in 10 years. Instead, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell called a dangerous play that ended in disaster. You're left to shake your head at this loss and ask why.

Michael Silver, NFL.com: "I can take a punch," Pete Carroll texted me late Sunday night, nearly three hours after the conclusion of one of the greatest Super Bowls ever played — and about 170 minutes removed from one of the most universally reviled play calls in the history of football. That's good, I thought to myself. Because you're about to get pummeled like a guy stepping into the ring against Mike Tyson in his prime.

Ian O'Connor, ESPN.com: It was over. Game, set, overmatched. Brady and Belichick were going to lose their third consecutive Super Bowl after winning their first three, and they were going to lose in University of Phoenix Stadium on a catch by Jermaine Kearse that might've been more absurd than David Tyree's in this same building seven years back.

Gary Myers, New York Daily News: Pete Carroll made the call and it was the worst coaching decision in the history of the Super Bowl. Carroll is a bright guy and a great coach. He's engaging, full of energy, the owner of two college national championships at Southern Cal and a Super Bowl last year and he was within one yard of another Lombardi Trophy on Sunday night. Then he screwed up and cost his team Super Bowl XLIX. "Man, what were they thinking?" Patriots cornerback Brandon Browner said.

Mike Lupica, New York Daily News: Wilson's team doesn't win two in a row. Belichick and Brady finally win again. But after everything Brady did on this night, when he was as much a star as he has ever been in the Super Bowl, it was the other quarterback who saved him. All this time after Eli-to-Tyree, Tom Brady gets even with Glendale. Deflate that.